Watch



Feb. 23, 1960 E. MORF 2,925,706

' WATCH Filed Feb. 14, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l United States Patent WATCH Ernest Morf, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland Application February 14, 1956, Serial No. 565,480

Claims priority, application Switzerland February 16, 1955 13 Claims. (Cl. 58-59) This invention relates to watches, in particular to watches intended for accommodation in a bracelet.

Watches are, indeed, often accommodated in ladies bracelets or jewels, however so that the watch disappears as much as possible among the ornaments of the jewel, in order that it does not disturb the glance thereof. For this purpose the watch must, of course, be as small as possible.

It is now an object of the invention to improve these possibilities by providing a watch so that some elements thereof may be located in quite different portions of the jewel, remote from one another, thus avoiding to provide as large and unaesthetic a hollow jewel portion as for locating a usual watch, in which all elements are condensed in a single movement.

It is accordingly also an object of the invention to provide a jewel or piece of jewelry with hollow portions harmoniously distributed over its whole extent, so that elements of the watch may be located in each of said hollow portions, thus enabling to provide a jewel of predetermined sizes with a watch having much larger elements than a watch known in the art having all its elements condensed within a single movement.

Another object of the invention is to remove the usual power means, consisting of a barrel and a spiral spring, and the manual winding means thereof, from the watch movement, and to replace the former by a cylindrical coil-spring thus increasing substantially the possibilities of storing energy in the spring.

A further object of the invention consists of providing a bracelet comprising a hollow ring and two enlarged hollow portions at both ends, with a watch having: a movement located in one end portion of the bracelet, a winding mechanism located in the other end portion of the bracelet, and an elongated coil-spring as power means, extending throughout the whole ring constituting the bracelet, from the winding mechanism to said movement, the latter comprising a train of gears, an escapement mechanism and an indicating device.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for preventing the power spring from overwinding, said means comprising a flexible wire extending within the coil-spring and a latch controlled by this wire, which displaces the latch towards a winding wheel for locking it when the power spring of the watch is wound up completely, i.e. when the coils of this spring come in contact with one another, so as to elongate the spring and accordingly the portion of said wire which extends within the spring.

Still a further object of the invention consists of connecting one end of the power spring direct to the great wheel shaft of the watch movement.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the course of the following description.

One embodiment of the watch according to the invention is represented, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, which show the watch located in a bracelet of a particular type.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of said embodiment;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the watch movement;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a part drawn on a larger scale of the bracelet represented in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of another part of the bracelet of Fig. 1, drawn on the same scale as the part represented in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view of the bracelet in elevation from the right of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a partial cross-section along line VI-VI of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 7 shows an element of the mechanism represented in Fig. 4.

The bracelet 1 (Fig. l) is constituted by an open resilient ring which carries a spherical hollow body 2 at one end, and an elongated enlarged portion 3 at the other end. As shown in Fig. 3, a watch movement 4 is located in the body 2 of the bracelet 1. This movement 4 is shown in Fig. 2, and it comprises: a train of gears consisting of a great wheel 5, a third wheel 6 and a fourth wheel 7; an escapement mechanism consisting of an escape wheel 8, lever 9 and a balance-wheel 10; and an indicating device comprising a cannon-pinion 11, an hour wheel 12, a dial 13 and hands 14 (Fig. 3). In this gear train, the great wheel 5 corresponds to the center wheel of the usual 5 wheel time train. This great wheel 5 carries a pinion 51 which drives cannon-pinion 11 through an intermediate gear 52.

It will be observed that the movement 4 differs from a usual movement by the fact that it contains neither a barrel, i.e. a power unit, nor a winding mechanism. It comprises, however, a setting button 15 fixed to a stem 16 for setting the hands 14.

The power unit of the watch is constituted by a cylindrical coil-spring 17, which is coiled around a flexible core consisting of a wire 18, fixed at one end to a sleeve 19 attached to the shaft of the great wheel 5. Spring 17 and wire 18 extend throughout the elongated conduit constituting the bracelet 1, from the great wheel 5 to a winding mechanism represented in detail in Fig. 4.

This winding mechanism is located in the elongated swelled portion 3 of the bracelet and it comprises a hollow rotatable member 20. The wire 18 also extends throughout this member, which is journalled in a bearing 21 fixed to portion 3 of the bracelet. The member 20 is made with a sleeve 22 having an external diameter, like sleeve 19, which is somewhat larger than the diameter of the spring 17, when the latter is completely unwound. The spring 17 thus encompasses the sleeves 19 and 22 frictionally. A pinion 24, represented in detail in Fig. 7, is set on a square portion 23 provided on member 20. The pinion 24 is provided with a central square opening 25, so that it is angularly fixed to member 20. Two ratchet toothings 26 and 27 are further out on pinion 24. The toothing 27, cut on the side face of the pinion, normally meshes with a similar toothing of a winding wheel 28, which is freely journalled around member 20; Whereas a' spring-pressed detent 29 coacts with the toothing 26, so that the pinion 24 can only rotate in one direction. If wheel 28 rotates in that direction, it drives the pinion 24, because of its lateral toothing meshing with the toothing 27 of the pinion. If wheel 28 rotates, however, in the other direction, it imparts pinion 24 an axial movement to and fro under the action of a spring 30, but this pinion does not rotate because of detent 29.

The free end of the wire 18 carries a head piece 31, which actuates a latch 32 also shown in Fig. 6. This latch is provided with two ears 33 which extend in axial slots 34 provided in portion 3 of the bracelet. Annular ribs 35 are also provided on one face of the latch member 32 so as to form four notches 36, staggered at from one another. These notches are designed for receiving axial cars 37 made integral with wheel 28. The latch 32 is actually set under the action of a cylindrical coil-spring 38 which urges it to the right in Fig. 4.

A cover member 39, secured to part 3 of the bracelet by screws 4% as shown in Fig. 5, closes this part 3 of the bracelet so as to provide a casing for the winding mechanism described.

The winding mechanism of the watch described functions as follows:

When the spring 17 is set in place, thus being completely unwound, its coils do not come in contact with one another, but each of the two ends of spring 17 encompasses one of the sleeves 19 and 22 as mentioned hereabove. If wheel 28 is then actuated alternately in both directions, it drives pinion 24 only in one direction, whereas the latter axially moves to and fro along the square portion 23, when wheel 28 rotates in the other direction. In the first case mentioned, the pinion 24 drives member 20 so as to wind up the spring 17 by driving the end of this spring, which is frictionally fixed to the sleeve 22 of member 20.

While winding up the spring 17 more and more in the way described, the diameter of this spring decreases and its coils come gradually closer and closer to one another, until they are eventually in contact with one another. If wheel 28 is further actuated in the winding direction, the additional turns formed in the spring cause an overall lengthening of the latter, so that the longitudinal axis of this spring 17 forms, between sleeves 19 and 20, a curve which is more and more sinuous with respect to the ring forming the bracelet 1. This deformation of the spring 17 is possible, since the inner diameter of said ring is large enough with respect to the spring 17.

During this gradual lengthening of the spring an increasing portion of the wire 18 is drawn into the region between the two sleeves 19 and 22, so that the head piece 31, fixed to the free end of the wire 18, moves slowly towards the left in Fig. 4 and takes along the latch 32 which is guided in the slots 34, against the action of its return spring 38, until the ears 37 of wheel 28 engage the notches 36 of the latch 32. The motorspring 17 has then reached its highest state of tension and the wheel 28 is prevented from further rotating in the winding direction by the latch 32, which is angularly fixed to the part 3 of the bracelet 1 by means of its ears 33 engaged in the slots 34.

The bracelet and watch combination described is obviously intended for a manual winding of the motor-spring of the watch and it will be observed that the latch 32 automatically informs the owner of the watch about the moment when the motor-spring of the watch is completely wound up.

The construction described has the following advantages with respect to a watch and bracelet combination of the same type, but in which the watch comprises as usually a power unit incorporated in its movement:

(1) The place made free in the watch movement by removing the barrel and the winding mechanism therefrom and setting them at another place of the bracelet, can be used for the wheels, so that the latter may be chosen larger with a movement of a predetermined diameter (or the movement may be made smaller with wheels of predetermined sizes) than with a usual watch;

(2) The hollow parts of the bracelet, which are not used in the constructions known in the art contribute in the construction according to the invention to the location of watch parts in a very effective manner, thus ensuring more harmony in the utilisation of the place at disposal;

(3) Since the space provided in the construction according to the invention for the power springof the watch, is much more important than in a usual barrel, it is possible to store more energy in the power spring 4 according to the invention than in a usual spring, located in a usual barrel.

The wheel 28 is provided with a toothing at its periphery in order that it may easily be actuated with a finger. This toothing could, however, also be replaced by a rubber ring, for instance, thus enabling actuation of said wheel by rolling this rubber ring on a smooth plane surface.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail hereabove, it will appear obvious to those skilled in the art, that various changes in the shape, sizes and arrangement of parts can be resorted to without departing from or sacrificing the spirit of the invention which is defined only by the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. In a watch intended for accommodation in a piece of jewelry comprising at least two hollow portions and conduit means connecting said hollow portions, the combination of: a movement including indicating means and arranged so that itcan be located in one of said hollow portions; a winding mechanism arranged so that it can be located in the other of said hollow portions, and energy storing means extending inside the piece of jewelry, from said winding mechanism to said movement, and operatively connected to these two watch parts so as to drive the watch movement when energy has been transmitted to said storing means by said winding mechanism.

2. The combination of a piece of jewelry comprising two hollow portions and conduit means connecting said hollow portions and of a watch consisting of a movement located in one of said portions, manual winding means located in the other of said portions, and energy storing means extending within the piece of jewelry from said winding mechanism to said movement for driving the latter when energy has been transmitted to said storing means by the former, the movement comprising indicating means which are visible from outside the piece of jewelry.

3. A watch comprising a combination: a movement arranged for accommodation in a hollow portion of a piece of jewelry; a winding mechanism arranged for accommodation in another hollow portion of said piece of jewelry, and a cylindrical coil-spring operatively connected both to said winding mechanism and to said watch movement for driving the latter when it is wound up by the former, said spring extending throughout elongated conduit means provided in said piece of jewelry between said hollow portions thereof, said movement comprising indicating means which are visible from outside the piece of jewelry.

4. In a piece of jewelry: a first hollow portion serving as casing for a watch movement comprising a train of gears, an escapement mechanism and an indicating device; a second hollow portion remote from the first hollow portion; a winding mechanism for said watch movement in said second hollow portion; elongated conduit means in said piece interconnecting said hollow portions thereof with each other, and a cylindrical coilspring located in said conduit means and connected, on the one hand, to said winding mechanism in order to be wound up when said winding mechanism is actuated, and, on the other hand, to a first gear of said watch movement in order to drive said train of gears and the indicating device under control of said escapement mechanism, when said spring has been wound up.

5. In a bracelet formed by a hollow ring carrying two enlarged hollow portions at the ends, a watch comprising: a movement with a train of gears, an escapement mechanism and an indicating device, located in one of said hollow portions of the bracelet; an elongated coilspring extending throughout said ring of the bracelet, and connected to the first of said gears for actuating said indicating device under control of said escapement mechanism; and a winding mechanism for winding up said coil-spring, said winding mechanism being located in the other of said hollow portions of the bracelet.

6. The combination of: a watch movement comprising an input gear arranged for driving an indicating device under control of an escapement mechanism; a casing for said movement, consisting of a hollow end portion of a bracelet; a winding mechanism comprising an output member; a casing for said winding mechanism consisting of another hollow end portion of said bracelet; a hollow ring forming a part of said bracelet and carrying said end portions of the bracelet; and a coil-spring extending within said ring and connected both to said output member of the winding mechanism, so as to be wound up thereby, and to said input gear of the movement, so as to drive the latter when it is wound up.

7. The combination of claim 6, in which said winding mechanism comprises an actuating rotating member extending partly outside the casing-in which said winding mechanism is located.

8. The combination of claim 6, in which the spring is coiled around a flexible wire which extends throughout said spring.

9. The combination of claim 6, in which said input gear is constituted by the great wheel of the watch movement.

10. In combination, a watch movement comprising an input gear arranged for driving an indicating device under control of an escapement mechanism; a casing for said movement, consisting of a hollow end portion of a bracelet; another casing consisting of another hollow end portion of said bracelet; a winding mechanism arranged in said other casing and comprising an output member and an actuating rotary member extending partly outside said other casing; a hollow ring forming a part of said bracelet and carrying said end portions of the bracelet; a coil spring extending within said ring and connected both to said output member of the winding mechanism so as to be wound up thereby, and to said input gear of said movement so as to drive the latter when it is wound up; a latch member located in said other hollow end portion adjacent to said actuating rotating member in an angularly fixed position relative to said hollow end portion but movable therein in the direction of said spring between an operative position in which said latch member engages said actuating rotating member, and an inoperative position; engagement means on said actuating rotary member for being engaged by said latch member in operative position whereby said actuating rotary member is prevented from turning; a flexible wire extending throughout said coil spring and through said rotating actuating member and said latch member; an end piece mounted on one end of said flexible wire adjacent to said latch member on the side remote from said actuating rotating member, whereby said end piece is moved by said wire towards said actuating rotating member and said latch member is moved by said end piece into engagement with said actuating rotating member for preventing it from turning when said coil spring has been wound up to such an extent that its turns contact each other.

11. In a wrist watch, in combination, a rigid combined watchband and watch casing, said watchband having an elongated hollow portion communicating with the interior of said watch casing; a watch movement including indicating means arranged in said watch casing; a winding mechanism arranged in said hollow portion in said watchband spaced from said watch casing; elongated spring means arranged in said hollow portion in longitudinal direction thereof, said spring means being connected at one end to said watch movement for driving the same and at the other end to said winding mechanism for being wound thereby, a portion of said spring means intermediate said ends being transversely movable whereby the axially measured length of said spring is variable; latch means for blocking movement of said winding mechanism; and actuating means sensitive to variation in axial length of said spring means for actuating said latch means.

12. In a wrist watch, in combination, a rigid combined watchband and watch casing, said watchband having an elongated hollow portion communicating with the interior of said watch casing; a watch movement including indicating means arranged in said watch casing; a winding mechanism arranged in said hollow portion in said Watchband spaced from said watch casing; a helical spring having an axial aperture arranged in said hollow portion in longitudinal direction thereof, said spring being connected at one end to said watch movement for driving the same and at the other end to said winding mechanism for being wound thereby, a portion of said spring intermediate said ends being transversely movable whereby the axially measured length of said spring is variable; latch means for blocking movement of said winding mechanism; and a flexible elongated member extending through the axial aperture in said spring, one end of said flexible member being fastened to said watch movement to limit axial movement of said flexible member relative to said watch movement, the other end being axially movable relative to said winding mechanism and connected to said latch means for actuating the same by the axial movement of said other end.

13. In a wrist watch, in combination, a rigid combined watchband and watch casing, said watch band being formed with an elongated cavity including a first, Watch-movement holding portion, a second, windingmechanism holding portion spaced from said first portion, and a conduit portion extending between said first and second portions; a watch movement including indicating means arranged in said first portion; elongated spring means arranged in said conduit portion in longitudinal direction thereof and connected at one end to said watch movement for driving the same; and a winding mechanism arranged in said second portion of said watchband spaced from said first portion and connected to the other end of said elongated spring means in said conduit portion for winding the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 502,884 Grasset et al. Aug. 8, 1893 973,854 Busenbenz Oct. 25, 1910 FOREIGN PATENTS 941,683 France Aug. 9, 1948 1,103,146 France May 18, 1955 

